1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of seat locks. More specifically, the invention relates to the field of motion sensing seat locks.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to lock a seat in position in response to an inertial change. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,553 to Nishizawa et al. discloses a seat locking mechanism having a V-shaped rotatable locking member. The locking member has two teethed portions, and is housed within a circular member having inner teeth configured to interlock with the two teethed portions of the V-shaped rotatable locking member. When a shock, such as that from a collision, is experienced by the seat, the locking member rotates within the circular member, and the teethed portions of the locking member engage with the inner teeth of the circular member and lock the seat in position.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2002/0089225 to Bruck et al. discloses a locking mechanism having a latch gear having teeth towards the bottom. A pawl having teeth towards the top and a stepped surface at its right is connected to the latch gear via their respective teeth. A sudden shock causes the latch gear to move towards its left, which causes the pawl to move towards its right. The stepped surface of the pawl interlocks with a wedge, and locks the seat in position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,281 to Hughes et al. provides an additional example, and discloses an inertial latching mechanism having a first hinged member, and a pawl mounted on a second hinged member. Both the first and second hinged members have teeth, and the first, second hinged members are distanced from one another during normal operation by a spring biasing mechanism. When a sudden shock is experienced, the pawl pivots and the teeth of the first and second hinged members interlock.